Tariq Aziz, Saddam-era official, gets 15-year term

In this image made from television Saddam Hussein's former foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, stands in a court in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March. 11, 2009, and is convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday for his role in the 1992 execution of 42 merchants accused of price gouging while Iraq was under U.N. sanctions. The conviction was the first against Aziz, who for years was the former regime's public face to the West. (AP Photo/APTN)
— AP

In this image made from television Saddam Hussein's former foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, stands in a court in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March. 11, 2009, and is convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday for his role in the 1992 execution of 42 merchants accused of price gouging while Iraq was under U.N. sanctions. The conviction was the first against Aziz, who for years was the former regime's public face to the West. (AP Photo/APTN)
/ AP

BAGHDAD 
For years he was the urbane, cigar-smoking face of Saddam Hussein's regime, who argued his boss' case in the international corridors of power.

Tariq Aziz, 72, now faces 15 years in prison for crimes against humanity in the 1992 execution of Iraqi merchants – his first conviction for his role in the ousted regime. The verdict came just over a week after Aziz was acquitted in a separate case.

The silver-haired former foreign minister, deputy prime minister and Saddam insider blinked frequently Wednesday as the judge read the verdict – guilty on four counts of crimes against humanity including complicity in murder and torture.

Aziz, wearing a blue jacket, black shirt and his trademark thick, black-rimmed glasses, stood silently. When the judge finished, Aziz quietly asked if he could sit down. The request was granted.

He sat with his eyes shut as other defendants rose to hear their sentences.

Two of Saddam's half brothers, former Interior Minister Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan and director of public security Sabawi Ibrahim, were sentenced to death in the merchants' case.

Three other defendants were sentenced to life in prison, 15 years and six years. Former Central Bank Gov. Issam Rashid Hweish was acquitted for lack of evidence.

The defendants were accused of involvement in the July 1992 roundup of 42 merchants accused by Saddam of being behind a sharp increase in food prices when the country was suffering hardships under sanctions.

The merchants were arrested over two days in Baghdad's wholesale markets and charged with manipulating food supplies to drive up prices. They were executed hours later after a quick trial.

Crimes against humanity is a charge under international law which refers to offenses so odious that they constitute an attack on human dignity. The charge is not isolated to specific events but is part of a pattern of atrocities by a state.

Prosecutors had argued that Aziz was complicit because he was a member of the ruling Revolutionary Command Council that rubber-stamped Saddam's decisions.

After hearing his death sentence, Ibrahim shouted "Long live Iraq" and "Down with the occupier."

"I am proud to be one of Iraq's martyrs and to join the martyr Saddam Hussein," he cried.

But Aziz, a fluent English-speaker and the only Christian in Saddam's mostly Sunni Muslim inner circle, displayed none of the bravado or self assurance that he showed when representing Iraq at the United Nations and world capitals.

Instead, it was left to his lawyer and relatives to speak out on his behalf.

Defense attorney Badee Izzat Aref said he would appeal and that Aziz was traveling in Europe when the executions occurred.

"My client had no role in the execution of the traders. He spent most of his time on diplomatic missions outside Iraq and he was removed from domestic issues."

"This is an unjust ruling, and my father was dragged into this case," his eldest son, Ziad, said in a telephone interview from Amman, Jordan. "I cannot add more."